El Palacio, Spain

 Thursday 14/07/22

The view of Plymouth harbour from the ferry deck

We're spending our first night in a very hot Spain. It took ages to disembark and get away from the port, and we also managed to fill up with diesel in Santander and fill up our water tanks along the way to an air in Northern Spain.

I will post a few photos from the crossing with some comments.  Tomorrow we hope to cross into Portugal, but will see what our progress is like in the heat.

We think this is a Dutch naval vessel.

Bokkie in the basement with all the bikers

The Pont Aven

 Some of the interesting vehicles boarding.

Isn't she lovely?

Tear-drop caravan

Expensive cargo.

 

Video of us driving Bokkie up the narrow ramp to exit the ferry.

Plymouth, Devon

 Tuesday 12/07/22

We're in a small campsite outside Plymouth after a long drive on Monday.  We've managed to fill Bokkie's LPG tanks and put in enough diesel to get us to a cheaper filling station in Spain and have also done our final UK grocery shopping.

Bokkie parked in the tiny campsite, only five sites.

We even managed to get our gardening fix satisfied - in a local nursery.

Our walk took us through a field of cows, calves and a bull.  We decided to leave once he started 
scratching the ground...

Because we've done the Portugal sit before, we can remember what we struggled to find in the small, local shops so have hopefully stocked up with everything we want from the UK.  Our ferry boards after lunch tomorrow, so we'll spend the morning getting the final bits ready before heading off into Plymouth to find our ship.

We're not sure what data connections will be like on the ship so we might not be in touch until we are in Spain.  We're keeping one eye on the weather and one eye on the fires raging across Portugal to try and find the best route down.

We're quite excited to be heading to Spain/Portugal for 3 months!

Final preparation in Farnham Royal

 Sunday 10/07/22

We're finishing off our weekend sit and getting ready for our summer trip to Portugal.  We'll be back for a two week sit here in October so it was nice to meet the owners and get used to the house and pets.  We have an elderly Boxer, a French Bulldog pup, two Guinea pigs and three rabbits to look after - they have been keeping us amused.

One of the fluffy rabbits - we'll work on the names when we come back.

Mae and Maggie

Poppy, one of the Guinea pigs

Maggie, the boxer, is ball-obsessed but it is the first time a dog has played ball with us and not the other way around.  Maggie holds on to the ball and won't let it go if you try to get it from her.  She will eventually place the ball on the ground a sensible distance away from you and either roll the ball a bit closer to you or back away a few paces.  A high stress game of 'hold your nerve' follows with both parties twitching before trying to pounce on the ball.  If she senses you are getting too close she pounces like lightening before placing the ball in another position.  It is hilarious!

Play time, don't even bother to try brute force to get the ball...

With the scorching temperatures in the UK at the moment it was a blessing to have a wonderful pool and a rare opportunity to swim.  We also seemed to overdo our grocery shopping on the way here so Toni has been cooking like mad and we still have a lot of eating to do before the ferry (chicken, sausage, liver and lamb for a weekend?).  As the ferry trip is 20 hours long we can't have any perishables in the fridge when we leave.

We're also a bit concerned at the heat wave forecast for next week - as we need to cross through Spain to Portugal the temperatures are forecast to be in the mid-40's.  This is a bit extreme for Bokkie (and us) so we need to decide to either wait a couple of days near the cost at Santander until it cools a little or take a longer drive around the coast and avoid the inland areas.

Expected temperatures on Friday afternoon - need to make another plan

We've got a few days to think about it and do some planning, we are due to drive to Plymouth tomorrow, camp for two nights and board the ferry on Wednesday.

Bonus video - 

Anyone thinking of getting a French Bulldog, be prepared for snuffling, snorting and just a little snoring...

On a hilltop near Halton

 Monday 04/07/22

After our night at Orchard view, we moved back to a familiar site next to Wendover Woods.  We've stopped over here twice before on this trip as it's nice and close to Chesham (where Charmaine lives), and is in a lovely spot with fantastic walks and views.

Bokkie cuts a lonely figure in the distance, on the empty campsite

We arrived on the weekend to find a bustling campsite; luckily the motorhome parking area is separate from the tenting areas so not too noisy.  On Sunday when we got back from our walk we were amazed to find it almost completely deserted - our type of site!  Having said that, they are expecting a gaggle of Duke of Edinburgh walkers later today so might have another noisy evening, not that we're complaining. 

Lovely views from the edge of the Chiltern Hills

We're here for a few days and then head off to a weekend sit at Farnham.  We don't usually do such short sits but agreed to this one as we will be doing a longer sit for them in October when we get back from Portugal.  

We're starting to excited about our overnight ferry trip and the Portugal heat to come. In the meantime, we're enjoying the early summer weather in the UK, just before the official school summer holiday madness starts. Life is good.  

Moving on in Meadle

 Saturday 02/07/22

The owners' plans at our current sit changed slightly so they arrived back two days early and we have moved down the road to a camping site on a farm.  

It meant we could move Bokkie during the afternoon and cycle back to hand over the house and dogs when the owners arrived in the evening.  We were quite luckily to be squeezed in as the campsite is busy, full of hardy campers (mostly tents, small campervans and one other motorhome) hoping for some summery weather.

Red Kite

We loved our time with Bella and Beau and will remember the sit for the ever-present Red Kites swirling overhead.  In spite of many fantastic sighting as the magnificent birds glided over our heads, we only managed one semi-decent photo.  Must do better!

Beau the bouncing Basset frolicking in a field

The dogs were an absolute pleasure to look after.

Bella kept up constantly amused, here using spiders' webs as makeup.

We're re-adjusting our spatial awareness into Bokkie mode and should stop knocking against things in a day or two.  We now have a week of camping before a short weekend sit in Farnham to meet a family we will sit for again in October.  Then we will make our way down to Cornwall to catch our ferry from Plymouth to Santander.  It will be our longest ferry trip so far as we will overnight across the Bay of Biscay to the warmer Spanish coast.

Hardy campers setting up on a Friday afternoon.

Bokkie squeezed in at the end of the road.

It's always fun to be back in Bokkie and it's been a while since we have been in such a buy campsite with so many kids running around.  It almost feels like we're on holiday!

Dog sitting in Meadle

 Friday 17/06/22

Walkies in the morning sunshine

We're on a three week sit in Meadle, near Princes Risborough and are staying on a huge property in a 17th century farmhouse.  Low beams and creaky floorboards abound in this house, but we are having a lovely time in absolute luxury.

Bella in the foreground with Beau at the back

Beau, an elderly Basset Griffon Vendeen and Bella, An Irish Setter puppy are adorable and fairly easy to look after.  That is, if you are prepared to lose the odd sock, shoe, towel, spectacles and anything else you may leave within reach of Bella.  If you don't want to lose anything, you need to keep your wits about you as she sneaks away your possessions like a phantom.  Luckily we were warned so have been vigilant, and have managed to recover all lifted possessions before they were chewed.

Bella misses we when I go out - even if it is just to put the bins out.

Bella found this fossilised rabbit somewhere and was a bit put out that 
I wouldn't let her keep it...

We've been lucky having Charmaine drop in a few times (she lives about 30mins away from this sit), as well as Ettienne and Debbi who popped in for coffee, which was lovely.  We're enjoying the daily routine of walking the dogs and chilling, working on Bokkie (A) and cooking / baking (T) while we do our final preparations for our Portugal trip.

Bella turned 1 on Wednesday and Charmaine has a birthday today

It's Charmaine's birthday today so it's been fabulous that she is spending the day with us - Bobotie for supper, and birthday cake!

Jubilee weekend in Stanton Prior

 Thursday 02/06/22

Our contribution to Jubilee decorations, a stunning poppy in the garden meadow.

It's a bonus holiday today in the UK and bunting and flags are appearing everywhere to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.  We're fortunate as Charmaine has managed to get some leave and is spending a few days with us, which is lovely.

The village of Stanton Prior, our barn visible on the left of the village

Stunning rural Somerset in every direction.

Toni and Charmaine popped into Bath for a visit today, nice and quiet to start off with but started getting really busy mid-morning.  It is a beautiful and historic town though, well worth seeing.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the tranquillity of this sit; our choice of places to sit has been paying off with lovely locations in the UK so far.  

Rule 1 of the English summer - if the sun shines, lie in it!

Cosmo has two modes of walkies - Nose down, tail up pulling on the lead or
sullen teenager, lip-on-the-ground, snail's pace when he doesn't want to go home.

We were initially nervous about sitting a Dalmatian as they can be quite highly strung but we needn't have worried.  Cosmo has crawled under our skins with his fantastic personality, strong will and loving nature.  Once again, we'll miss him when we leave, although we'll carry around reminders for some time - he sheds incredibly so we'll never get rid of all the tiny black and white hairs!

On Saturday we head out for a few days in a campsite before our next sit, a 17'th century farmhouse near Princes Risborough which we hope will be along similar lines.

Bonus pic:-

They grow the cows tall in Somerset!